Iran's supreme leader, president laud nationals for defeating U.S. "maximum pressure"

TEHRAN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday praised Iranians for their resistance against U.S. sanctions, saying the people managed to defeat Washington's "maximum pressure" campaign.

They made the remarks in their congratulatory addresses to the Iranian nation on the occasion of the Nowruz celebrations, marking the beginning of the new year in Iran.

Khamenei noted that "the abject failure" of the Americans' "maximum pressure" was among the Iranian people's sweet and biggest achievements in the previous year, describing it as a victory achieved in the light of their resistance, the leader's website wrote.

He added the numerous events that unfolded across the world during the past year proved the correctness of the path being trodden by the Iranian nation in the face of global arrogance.

Khamenei regretted that people's unfavorable livelihood, high prices and inflation were among the most bitter issues in the year ended on March 20, adding the country's economic problems can, and must, be resolved.

As a tradition of the new year, Khamenei designated the new Iranian calendar year of 1401 as the year of "Production: Knowledge-Based and Job-Creating."

In similar remarks, Raisi said the failure of the U.S. "maximum pressure" campaign has been the country's biggest achievement over the past few years, which was made thanks to the Iranian people's resistance, according to the Iranian presidency's website.

The president added his administration also promised not to tie the economy's fate to the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and worked to lift and neutralize the U.S. sanctions.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in 2015. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran.

Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, with the United States indirectly involved, to revive the deal.